It was a time of suspicion, with ethnic tension so taut that police feared violence and the clergy prayed for peace. It was in that climate of mistrust, just a year ago this weekend, that an FBI agent was sent to the Huntington Beach home of Barbara A. Coe. The agent's job that Saturday afternoon, just three days before California voters would decide whether to cut public benefits to illegal immigrants, was to find out whether Coe was planning to violate the voting rights of minorities.

It was a time of suspicion, with ethnic tension so taut that police feared violence and the clergy prayed for peace. It was in that climate of mistrust, just a year ago this weekend, that an FBI agent was sent to the Huntington Beach home of Barbara A. Coe. The agent's job that Saturday afternoon, just three days before California voters would decide whether to cut public benefits to illegal immigrants, was to find out whether Coe was planning to violate the voting rights of minorities.

Voters in the 67th Assembly District who thought they were clear of turmoil after the ouster of Doris Allen last year found out that there still was plenty more to come. Political newcomer Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach), has held the seat he won on Nov. 28 under a cloud. Baugh's victory resulted in the elevation to Assembly speaker of Curt Pringle, (R-Garden Grove), but controversy over the manipulation of the ballot in the recall election that gave the seat to Baugh has continued.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich expressed pessimism here Saturday that the federal budget impasse will be broken any time soon, vowing that Republican leaders "are not going to agree to a bad deal" just to end the stalemate. "We are not going to have some phony, papered-over, fake budget just so President Clinton can campaign this fall saying he got a balanced budget," Gingrich told a crowd of Orange County Republicans at a fund-raiser and birthday party for Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside).

In one of the most closely watched legislative races in the state, Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) on Tuesday captured most of the absentee vote--ballots cast, for the most part, before his indictment last week on felony charges. Despite the torrent of publicity since then, Baugh remained optimistic that he would prevail in the Republican primary.

Anti-immigration activists say they will picket House Speaker Newt Gingrich's appearance in Orange County today to show their disgust for what they call federal foot dragging on immigration reform. Barbara A.

Orange County Democratic Party leaders said Saturday that they have formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor local polls on Election Day, fearing that voter intimidation tactics might be used in heavily Latino precincts in central Orange County.

A rematch of the Gil Ferguson-Ross Johnson GOP slugfest for a state Senate seat and a three-way fight among Republicans in northwest Orange County's 67th Assembly District will be the local highlights of the March 26 primary, according to nominating papers filed by Friday's deadline. Primaries will also be held in two county supervisorial districts, with the winners taking office if they capture more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate achieves that margin, a runoff will be held Nov.

An accountant. A crime analyst. A city councilwoman and her husband, a political consultant. Orange County residents all, they met for the first time two years ago, drawn together by a common contempt for the impact they believed illegal immigrants were having here. Their union would eventually create Proposition 187 and alter California's political landscape.

A member of the Proposition 187 campaign committee has reopened old wounds with plans to post "only citizens can vote" flyers outside polling places Tuesday. The plan is sponsored by Barbara A. Coe, a member of the pro-187 campaign committee and head of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform. The flyers were handed out last week during a meeting of her group in Garden Grove. The flyers read: "Only citizens can vote! Violators will be prosecuted!"